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Local History

Jabez Reeves

Jabez Reeves, the entrepreneurial “father” of the Reeves Pulley Company, was born (in 1806) in Brown County, Ohio. There in 1824 he married Nancy Coe. To their home were born ten children, including William F. (b. 1827), Alfred Benton (b. 1940), and James M. D. (b. 1844?), all of whom figured prominently in the establishment, maintenance and growth of Reeves Pulley. Some time in the 1840s Jabez and family moved west to Rush County, Indiana where he farmed and began to work on his inventions. In 1873 he began manufacturing field cultivators in nearby Knightstown, Indiana.
Three years later the Reeves brothers founded the Hoosier Boy Cultivator Company. In 1877 the Company moved its operations to Columbus, Indiana, where Jabez then 70-plus years of age, and his son William F. drew up a partnership agreement. The following year, for reasons not clear, William handled over his interest to his son (and Jabez’s grandson) Marshall T. who became president of the company. In 1880 Milton M., another son of Jabez, purchased part ownership in the company. From that time on the business was know as Reeves and Company. Jabez died in Knightstown in 1895.